The Red Poll Ladies

Jasmine and Rosella were finishing off a bale of hay, finding it useful both for food and as bedding:

 Rosella chewed hay while Jasmine chewed her cud:

Rosella, due to calve very soon, gave me a closeup look:

 On another day, Scarlett and Rosella kept each other company on some waste hay:

I put out a new bale, which got everyone excited:

Gracie and Amy:

Violet gave me the stink-eye. She's never aggressive, but she doesn't trust me. She is naturally fearful, perhaps from her experiences at her previous owner's farm. My cows were emaciated when they arrived:

  Jasmine loves her hay, even turning down grain in favor of hay sometimes:

 Violet was in her glory, standing knee-deep in dinner - kind of like if I was standing knee-deep in pizza and cookies:

At this writing, I have only two hay bales left. I am sure now that I'll have enough to finish the year:

One day, probably just for old time's sake, the girls all walked over to the east side of the barn where they'd spent the winter. They must have had fond memories of the deep, soft layer of wasted hay there - and it's still there for them to enjoy:

As the grass continues to green up, the girls are looking shinier and more content. They spend less time eating and more time chewing their cuds:

A Horsey Emergency

The pasture grass has been gradually turning green, but I didn't think it was yet anything to worry about:

Nevertheless, I did notice that Blue was lying down more than normal:

 It appeared that Blue's hooves were already going bad, a case of Grass Founder, caused by too much high sugar, green grass. I was loathe to put their muzzles on again this year and begin the same daily battle with the horses which I had last year:

  The grass kept greening and then Remy began lying down much of the time also:

 One cold afternoon I put out a new hay bale and all the cows came over to eat from it. The horses were nowhere to be found:

So I drove out to the farthest corner of the field and found them both, standing still in the sleet and driving winds, looking miserable:

 Worse, Remy's hooves were badly tipped, a sure sign of painful Founder (laminitis):

It seems that the front of their hooves becomes painful, so they tip them back to relieve the pressure. It was obvious that I had to do something immediately and couldn't  put it off another day:

 So I drove back to the barn and parked the tractor. Then I grabbed two lead ropes and walked out through the driving sleet and snow to where I'd found the horses. I led them slowly back to the barn and locked them inside. Remy seemed happy to get out of the weather and to lie down on soft hay:

Blue did likewise, and I determined to keep them in the barn, eating only hay, until I could come up with a better plan:

I got moveable posts and set up a small corral for them inside the main fence (in case they escaped the new fence, they'd at least be inside the big fence). The Box Elder tree was inside their new corral for shade and I tied yellow flagging ribbons on the new wires to help make sure they noticed them. They've spent a few days in there so far, and I've brought them into the barn at night. It may get more difficult when their grass is all gone but just outside their fence is lush, green pasture. Time will tell: